Oman Future Telecommunications (OFT) has been awarded its Class I licence to establish and operate public mobile networks and services by Royal Decree No. 4/2021, allowing it to become the Sultanate’s third mobile network operator (MNO). Times of Oman quotes Sayyid Hamad bin Ahmed al Busaidi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OFT, as saying that the development ‘represents a significant step into the future of the telecoms sector in the Sultanate, whether in terms of providing cutting edge technologies in this field, or offering more options for the citizens and residents of the Sultanate, affirming that Vodafone Oman will work on providing the most advanced technologies in the field of information and communication, which, in turn, will contribute to the implementation of the government’s strategy represented by Oman Vision 2040’.
The OFT consortium, which is led by Itqan Tech Development, secured the third MNO licence in October 2017 after the tender process was cancelled, and in September 2019 it signed a strategic partnership agreement with Vodafone Group, notes TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. Under the 15-year non-equity agreement, Vodafone Group and OFT will work together to roll out a new mobile network and develop a number of new services using the Vodafone brand in Oman. As well as Itqan Tech Development, the OFT consortium is said to include pension funds, government investment funds and investors from the private sector.